Midnight blues
by Yureinodorei
Summary: Kaito is running late, but what he finds is not what he expected.


"Shit. Shit. Shit," was the only thought in Kaito's head as he run down the streets of Tokyo. Finally he arrived at Aoko's front door, where he took a few deep breaths trying to push his heart down his throat and back to its proper place, before entering.

"Hi Aoko, sorry I'm late." He said with his most humble tone of voice and the puppy eyes he had perfected over the years. But she was nowhere to be seen, which struck him as strange. Was he mistaken? Hadn't he agreed to have dinner at her place today? Maybe she had said tomorrow… but no, he was sure it was today. "Aoko? Where are you?" he called again.

As he approached the kitchen he could see the table set for a meal and could detect the smell of something that had been cooked. Yet, the kitchen was empty and dark and he was getting very anxious. Trying to calm down and ignoring the hundred worst case scenarios coming to his brain he decided to check the rest of the house, starting with her bedroom.

Upon reaching the top of the stair he could see light coming from behind her door and let a relieved sight scape from his mouth. He walked to it and poked inside "Hey Aoko, I'm sorry for arriving…" the rest of the sentence died before leaving his lips when he saw her, sitting on the bed, arms around her knees and her head resting atop of them.

He approached her, very concerned now, and she tensed, but made no other sign of acknowledgment. "Hey, what's wrong?" Kaito sat by her side, but as he tried to place a hand on her shoulder she turned to the other side, still not looking at him.

"Nothing. Go away." Her response was almost a whisper but carried enough emotion to sound like a plea.

This was wrong. He had expected her to be furious. He knew how to deal with an angry Aoko, but a sad one was a different story. "What happened? Tell me," his mind was reeling with different theories, had she had a fight with Nakamori keibu? With Keiko? She had been fine at school. Was it him? Had he gone too far with his pranks? She was used to having her skirt flipped by now, and normally that made her furious. Could she know his secret? No, she wouldn't let him near her if that was the case. Then what?

"Nothing." She repeated in the same voice. "I want to be alone."

He tried with a stern voice now, since concern had not yield results, "Aoko, this clearly is not nothing. You know you can tell me anything," he added a little softer.

She looked at him at last, tears still in her eyes, her lower lip trembling before lowering her head again, "Why would I? You don't care about me, nobody does," her voice cracked with emotion as she finished.

He was stunned, answering in a disbelieving voice, "Wait, wh- what? Why would you say that? You know that's not true."

She raised her head again, this time looking into his eyes with anger and almost barked, "My father cares more about catching Kid than me, he even forgot my birthday. And you too. I feel like we haven't really talked in months, you just play pranks on me and end up cancelling our plans. I really wanted to have dinner the three of us. I knew dad couldn't because of the stupid heist, but if at least you…" and as a sob cut her, she just couldn't keep it in anymore. Tearing down she covered her face with her hands as her whole body shaked with the strength of her sorrow.

Kaito was frozen in his place. Feelings of regret, shame and guilt battled inside of him. How could he not have noticed this weight in her heart? Of course he knew she blamed Kid for her father's constant absence. And it was partly true; when there was no Kaitou Kid the inspector had had more or less a 9 to 5 job. It was also true that, with all the heists and planning for them, he often had to show up late, leave early or completely cancel on her, most of times at the last minute. He hadn't even thought about how profoundly it could be affecting her.

These thoughts went through his head in a flash and left him feeling like the scum of the earth. Finally he snapped out of it, wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, the other hand reaching for hers, trying to pry them away from her face.

She struggled for a second before giving up, as if she were too weak to keep up a fight. He looked down at her face, but her eyes remained closed, tears still rolling down her cheeks. He sighted and softly grabbed her chin, pulling her head up, "Please look at me Aoko." He begged in a hushed voice.

Slowly she complied, and he could feel his heart shatter at the hurt so deep he saw in those blue eyes. "I'm so sorry for what I've done. I never meant to hurt you Aoko. I don't want you to think I don't care about you. You matter to me a lot," _more than anything else_, he completed in his mind. She opened her mouth to speak but he placed a finger on her lips, "you really do, don't ever doubt it," he paused for a second and looked away, and if he were someone else she'd have thought he was struggling to maintain his emotions at bay. But this was Kaito. He had a steel grip on emotions and had never since elementary school lost his coolness; of course it was not the case. "Your father also loves you." he continued, again looking at her and she could feel the soft caress of his fingers where he caught a small tear on its way down her cheek. "He may be a little impulsive and have a not so little obsession with catching Kid, but he would do anything for you."

She finally sighed and moved a little to sit straight again, so Kaito let her go. She took a deep breath, trying her best to dry her cheeks, and after composing herself a little turned to him again. With the tiniest of smiles she murmured, "I know you are right. I'm sorry"

He was still worried, but her eyes were calmer now and it seemed the worst had passed. "You don't have anything to be sorry about, but are you really okay?"

Although her smile was a little bigger now and her voice somewhat stronger, she averted her eyes. "Yeah, I don't normally think that, just sometimes. But today… I just couldn't stand being alone," as she looked up again and saw the question in his eyes, her small smile turned into a sad grimace, "today is my mom's birthday"

Now Kaito felt REALLY bad. Of course she'd feel abandoned in a day like that. Nakamori keibu surely remembered, but was busy with work because HE had decided on that day to pull a heist. And why was it that, even with his almost idyllic memory, he could never remember those kinds of significant things? Sure, he knew the day Harry Houdini had died (31st of October, 1926) or the publication of the fist Arsène Lupin book (June 10th, 1907) but he hadn't remembered this date. He hadn't even remembered it was this month. What a lousy friend he was. "0h Aoko, I'm so sorry. I can't believe I forgot obaasan's birthday."

She chuckled a little at that, "You know she hated being called that _"I'm too young to be an obaasan, little rascal"_, remember?"

He laughed at the memory and smiled. "Yeah, women really don't like to be called that. She wasn't the only one to scold me. Oyashi finally told me to never call a woman an old lady unless she had white hair."

They laughed a little and fell silent, lost in the memories of their late parents. Their loss still hurt and they knew nothing could ever fill the void it left within them, but it was kind of comforting knowing that they could rely on each other, that they understood. They remained there for a while, shoulders touching as a sign of support, until Aoko shook her head and gave him a real smile this time.

"C'mon, wanna eat something? We can reheat dinner and maybe dad will arrive soon," she was already on her way downstairs when she added happily, "Unless he caught Kid!"

Kaito lost it. He simply fell on the bed again, trying to control his laughter. That's the Aoko he knew and loved.


End file.
